Beasts and Ravens
by SheWhoRunsWithWolves
Summary: Illana. She's just a lonely bounty hunter trying to get by. But what happens when she unintentionally goes after Riddick's target? Well... things get a little... difficult... Rated M for Gore, Violence, Sex and Bloodplay. Set before PB.
1. It Was The Good Stuff

The November air was frigid and sharp. Just the way I liked it. It whipped through my short midnight hair, biting and nipping at my ears and nose. I pulled the hood of my cloak down to cover more of my face as the forest back roads of the countryside disappeared behind me and Kloria, the Bandit City, came into view. Walking a fast, steady pace through the lively shanty town, I kept my chin down so that no one could see my eyes. The moment one of those Mercs saw them would be the moment they started asking questions The moment Mercs ask questions is the moment people start dying and, as much as I hate to admit it, killing slows me down. I can't afford to waste time tonight, I'm on a mission. I took to the shadows and lonely alleyways, places where I could better hide myself and stalked to a favorite hangout spot of my target objective.

I came to a shabby little tavern and cautiously, but confidently pushed my way through the steel double doors. Making my way to an empty bar stool, I scanned the place, spotting several handfuls of curious Mercs and the most important man of the evening. Anderson Keeves. Murderer, con artist, bandit. Worth five grand, dead or alive. Likes the drink and the women. Loud and obnoxious as fuck, but sly and cunning.

"You a native, or just passing through?" A jolly old fat man with mutton chops and a red nose asked me, leaning against the bar and whipping a tin cup clean with his apron.

"Passing though." I told the Bartender. He hummed in agreement, his eyes lingering on my face. I didn't look at him, just kept my gaze aimed at Anderson who sat in the back corner of the joint, smoking himself a cigar and flirting and flaunting loudly. "A pint, please." I told the Tavern Master. Didn't want him hovering around too long.

He cleared his throat. "And you can pay?" His voice held a certain accent that I couldn't quite place. He had the kind of voice that made you want to trust him, even if he _was_ wearing a dirty apron and had grimy hands and face.

I didn't look him in his eye, but I turned my head in his direction. "Course I can." I assured him but he wasn't going to take that alone. I reached into a leather pouch on my belt and pulled from it a small gold piece. "Will this do?"

He caught the coin I tossed before it hit the counter and chomped it between his stinking, rotting teeth and gums. "It's real." He told himself and turned to pour me a pint of the house mead, grunting his approval.

I turned back to Anderson, who was still bothering the curvaceous tavern wenches, as my drink was slammed down in front of me. I took a chug. It was strong and bitter. The kind of alcohol that makes your tongue retreat, teeth curl, neck shrink and eyes squint. It was the good stuff. When I turned back to peek at Anderson, he was looking at me. He wasn't the only one, though. Before journeying to this place, I'd made an effort to suppress my animalistic senses. It's not that I didn't need them, on the contrary. They would be quite useful , but with all the different smells and sounds around, concentrating on one person would be much too difficult, so I shut them off.

I regretted that. Someone else was watching me and if I could suddenly feel their hostile intent so soon and strongly with only my human-like senses, I could only imagine what a beast they must be. I let my animal side bubble to the surface for a moment. I needed to know what I was up against. After sorting through the sound and awful scents of age old men who could use a good bath, I felt it. Something in the corner behind me. Something strong and powerful. I felt its eyes on me and felt its violent intention. Smelled it. Tasted it. I couldn't waste any time. I needed this kill and the faster I did it, the quicker I could get out of here and lose whatever was watching me.

'_Thank you, God, for making me a woman…'_ I pulled back the side of my cloak that was closest to Anderson. The black mini skirt I was wearing was skin tight, as was the dark corset I'd chosen just for this occasion. His eyes widened and he grinned at me. Showing off my thighs and chest wasn't going to be enough to lure him, though. He's got enough women with him already. But what do I have that they don't? What do I have that would interest him more that those stupid whores? I smiled sweetly at him and let him see my eyes. Let him see the silver twinkle and teased his gawking face before I gulped down the rest of my drink and fluttered seductively out the door.

He would follow. Be it curiosity or complete knowing of who I am, someone like Anderson would surely follow. He did and I made sure to cut into an exceptionally deserted alley. I waited for him, leaning against a rough, moist brick wall as he rounded the corner. I folded my arms and his light shoes fell quietly on the cement pavement, the weight and scent of his drunken lust for me slicing through everything in the alley.

"Hey there." He slurred, coming to stare me down and lean his weight against his right arm that he placed on the wall next to me. "What's a pretty thing like you doing in a town like this, huh?" He asked me.

"Looking for someone to keep me company, I suppose." I mumbled to him, false shyness plaguing my lips.

"Mmm…" He grunted. "I could be that someone, Honey…" His body wobbled and his legs threatened to dump him.

"Oh? Could you?" I pushed my chest against his, showing him the ripe, tanned cleavage that my corset strangled as I reached for the dagger on my belt.

He was about to plant a lazy, drooling kiss on me when I threw him against the opposite wall and raked my blade across his chest. _'The chest? Why would I slice his chest?' _ Something, or rather someone, had distracted me. Someone huge. I looked the edge of the alley from whence I came and saw a large silhouette of a man standing there. It was the same person the inside that tavern, I knew. I snapped my attention back to my main concern and realized that Anderson had slipped away. I looked back to find that the mysterious Watching Man had gone and then I fled, racing after my prey hot on his trail.

The Watching Man was there with me. Male. Big. I felt him there. Couldn't see him, but I smelled him in the darkness, though he didn't make a sound that gave him away. I hurried through the labyrinth of alleyways, following the scent of my preys fear. Anderson was frantic and didn't know where he was running to so, when I found him, he'd hit a dead end. Darkness was leaking into the small grouping of houses he'd come to. The buildings with eerie boarded windows loomed over the twenty square foot space he occupied; his only light a lonely dim street lamp. Giant moths circled the dirty light as he shook and wriggled with fear.

I ran towards him, not hesitating to rip my blade through his throat this time, for I had to kill him, had to claim his death as my own before my pursuer caught up to me. Unfortunately, I had no doubt in my mind that whoever followed could indeed catch me and it was only a matter of waiting for him to strike. The target was dead and I soon heard the footsteps of a predator again in the alley behind me.

"Mine!" I roared, whirling around to face the dark nothingness. "My kill! You best be on your way!"

A gravely rumble of a laugh sounded from the alley, deep, menacing and unmoved by my warning words. "I came here tonight to slay Anderson the Lone Bandit." He spoke as he stepped casually into the light. He was a true giant. A hulking beast of a man with a voice so amazingly deep, stopping to gawk couldn't be helped nor prevented. "I didn't think I'd also be taking in Illana, The Raven."

'_He knows...' _I stepped back a few paces.

"The Raven," he continued, cocking his bald head. The black goggles he wore hid most of his expression from me. "With hair like pitch, her cloak as black as night and her silver eyes that pierce the soul..." He smirked. "...like mine..."  
My breath caught in my throat and I froze, immediately understanding exactly who I was dealing with. '_Oh fuck...'_ "You're..."

"Richard B. Riddick. Escaped Convict. Murderer." He chuckled then and crouched. I knew what was coming. I could smell it on him. Could feel it in my bones.

I turned to run as soon as I felt the instinct. That's when I remembered I was in a dead end. I heard only two of his long striding footsteps, and he was right behind me. Before I knew it, I was in a sleeper hold and gasping for air. I clawed at his arms, begging for oxygen but it only made him tighten his gripped

The last thing I remember seeing were the moths by the lamp, thrusting their heads furiously into the dingy glass…


	2. Deal Or No Deal

I woke in a tiny room with a throbbing headache and a bit in my mouth. There were no lights on accept for the blinking glow of the street lamp from out side that I assumed was the same from before I passed out. The thumping of moths on the lantern glass could still be heard, which meant it was close and that I must be in one of the gloomy, boarded up buildings. I tried to sit up but my wrists and ankles were chained, my ankles to the steel chair I sat in and my wrists chained together and behind me. I didn't like not having my arms to protect myself. Didn't like not having them to shield myself, leaving my front vulnerable, open and inviting any damage anyone could deal to me. I became angry and nervous, blinking viciously as sweet started to roll into my burning eyes.

"RIDDICK!" I shouted into the darkness, banging the chains that bound my wrists against metal to draw his attention. I knew he was there but the pain in my head wouldn't allow me to sense him, wouldn't allow me to find him in the dark.

"Yes?" He rumbled against the back of my neck.

I jerked, unaware he was already so close and he laughed. He turned and stalked quietly around me passed boxes and barrels to get to the front of the room where he took a seat.

He was wrong. His eyes weren't like mine, they were better. I was having trouble seeing in there and he, he could maneuver around things, no problem.

His legs were spread apart and he was leaned back into his chair, his meaty arms resting on the handles. His chest rose and fell under the tight confines of his black tank-top and those silver eyes of his were shining in the dark.

"Let me go…" I demanded, the tart metallic taste of my own blood sliding across my tongue.

He threw his head back and barked a fearsome laugh, pounding one giant boot on the floor. Cocking his head wolfishly, he asked me, "And you think I'm just gonna do it? Just like that, huh?" He shook his head and stood. "Now why would I do that, eh? I'm thinking' I can turn you in with ol' Andy there." He tipped his head towards what looked like a chrome coffin against the right wall. "Thinkin' you must be worth somethin'. Alive especially , since you broke out uh Crematoria, the Warden must be willin' to pay top dollar for yuh." He stood with a heavy grunt, crept forward and crouched in front of me. "I'm sure he'll will wanna have a little chat.. Sure he's been waitin' a long time to get his hands on yuh."

He's right. The Warden would want me alive. He would want to kill me himself. That alone was frightening, but what was worse was what would happen before I was shipped back to Crematoria. I smelled my own fear bubbling to the surface. He smelled it too, knowing what I feared.

"I wonder what those bandits would do to you if I handed you over alive?" A finger tapped his chin and he looked up, pretending to think about it.

I didn't say anything to him at first and that made him chuckle. He had me locked up tight. Didn't underestimate me like others had so I wasn't going any where anytime soon.

"Fuck you." I hissed and spit in his face.

He grinned evilly and stared at me a moment. His face hardened after he wiped it with his palm and then he back handed me so hard my chair rocked. "Well aren't you feisty..." He hummed, taking my jaw between his thumb and fingers and squeezing hard. I felt blood rolling out of my mouth to drip and onto the warped hardwood floor. _plop... plop... plop..._

"If I were you, I'd play nice, see?" He squeezed harder and pulled my face closer to his. "You ain't exactly in a position to be playin' Big Bad Wolf."

My heavy breath fogged the goggles he had pulled up to his forehead and I was close enough to him now that the blood on my lips dripped onto his chin. His tongue snaked out to taste the red drops on his face and I cringed.

"Interesting." He spoke slowly, curiously. "You taste... different."

_What am I supposed to say to that?_

I didn't think he could get any closer but he did. "Where are you from, anyway?" He asked.

"Where _you're_ going, asshole..." I whispered.

"Hell is a nasty place..." He rumbled. "Tried it... didn't like it much. No competition down there." He stood abruptly and went to sit on the metal box that cradled Keeves, the Cold Dead Con. "Here's the deal." He began. "I _could _hand you over to the locals for a penny like I'd planned... Or I could keep you for myself."

I growled. "And that entails what, exactly?"

"Crematoria's got these transporters, see? They can resist that bitch of a sun that burns its skin. Nice boats, those ships. Virtually indestructible. They gotta be... I want one."

I scoffed. "What's that gotta do with me, huh?"

"'I'm told the boats are kept inside and away from the main dock." He told me. "They ain't with the rest of the sand-cats cuz they're for the Warden and his top guns, only. In order to get 'em I gotta get in, passed the Warden and onto the Base Floor. You're gonna be the one to help me with that. If you can break out, I'm betting you can break in."

"And I'm supposed to believe that you wont leave me there? that you wont turn my ass in to the Warden instead?" I laughed. "Forget it. Leave me with the bandits. I can protect myself."

"You get us in... I'll get us out." He said. "Long as I get my boat, I'm happy. Don't need the loot on your head."

I huffed and let my head hang. "That almost sounded like a good bargain. then I remembered who I'm talking to..."

He lept to where I sat and pulled my head up by my hear so he could look at me. "Is who _I'm _talking to any better than who _ you _got?"

He was right. "Yeah, but I'm the one chained to the chair..." I shook my arms and the rattling of chains clanked around like old, dead bones in the frozen darkness.

"But if I take 'em off, you wont play nice." he loosened his grip.

"'Course not. You choked me, hog tied me, jacked my kill and slapped me around after chaining me to a cold metal chair in some abandoned house. The minute you set me free, I'll kill you and take you in, Riddick. I ain't the only one with a bounty on my head... Don't forget that."

"Fine then. You do this for me, and after we leave Crematoria, my head is fair game... but so is yours. We're both wanted dead or alive and I don't mind ghostin' a lady for a years worth uh cash." He stated.

"I figured that much. You know, since you don't mind beatin' 'em and tying 'em up."

"Deal or no deal?" He let go of me and waited for my answer.

"Can't you do it yourself? Heard you flew your way outta high security a few months back. That right?"

"That was different. Crematoria is different. You know that. So, deal or no deal?"

I would have to take him up on that offer. How else would I get out. He's a big man and he ain't stupid. If I'm gonna get out of this jam alive, I'll have to do as he says for a little while. Until i ghost him, that is.

"Deal."


	3. Can You Feel Them

The crunching of earth and gravel under thick boots; a favorite sound of mine, only tonight I could not enjoy it. There was a gun to my spine and the biggest convict I'd ever encountered marching me through the darkness of the wood with a hand on the back of my neck. He'd told me he was taking me to where ever he'd landed his little Riddick... I planned on killing him as soon as we left crematoria.

_But how..._

"Move faster." He dug the gun into my flesh.

I grunted and halted myself. "Get that gun outta my back or i'll kill you now..."

He went silent for a few moments and the chuckled. The firearm was pulled from my back and walked faster through the forest, letting go of my neck to task my bicep in hand and drag me along. I heard something then. Something that didn't come from me or Riddick. Something following us. Sneaky footsteps trailed us in the night, unaware that they were hunting true predators. One set of feet turned to two sets and two sets turned to four. A pack of bandits hoping for loot. Too bad they wouldn't get it.

_But has Riddick noticed them yet?_

I was sure that his eyes were better than mine. Much better, but what of his other senses?

"Can you feel them?" I whispered.

He grunted his agreement. "but I cant tell how many. Just that they're behind us."

_Excellent..._

"There are four." I continued. "Three directly behind and one attempting to flank right."

"Got it. We can split for this... but if you don't come back," He stopped, stepped in front of me and leaned down to whisper in my left ear. "Your head'll be fair game _tonight_... and i'll have it." He let me go then and disappeared into the darkness after taking one of two knives from his belt and throwing it to the ground where it stuck. "Plus i'll want that back..." I heard him say.

_Fuck..._ I cant run for it now. Not with those goons following us. _Fight first, escape later..._

I took to the trees after taking the knife, and headed straight for the closest man. Letting my animal side run free, I focused on him. Male. Average size. Perspiring. Rotting teeth. Old wounds are still healing and he hasn't had a woman in a very, very long time. He was close, but oblivious to the fact that I was so close. Might have heard me comin', but didn't he me round through the trees and flank him. I followed him closely, my charcoal cloak keeping my hidden from sight.

He was a lanky fellow. Different body type than the rest of the white devils that plagued this land. He was tanned and tattooed and not wearing enough clothing to keep him warm. The harsh wind favored me, telling me his tall boots were of a strange leather, as was the dark open vest he tried to cover his top with and he'd soiled those trousers of his at least thrice since last they were washed. I also smelled that he'd had some drink tonight. Lots and lots of drink.

I jumped into the dirt road he shuffled on, silently. I was going to kill him quietly. Had planned on ending him quickly and moving on the the next man but a distant cry of fear and death behind me sent my prey whirling around to investigate. To spot me. He howled like the dog he was and ran at me, tongue lolling out and panting like an animal. The teeth and bones strung around his neck twisted and clunked together and he bounded in my direction.

I jumped aside, once he was close enough, and sliced him as he passed me. A nasty ear plopped into the dirt beneath our feet and I almost was surprised it didn't flail and wriggle violently like a lopped tentacle. My opponent groped at the gore on his neck, gushing blood and squealing, stumbling in the dark and dry heaving.

"You crazy Bitch!" He shouted at me.

I smirked when he lurched closer to me, the fool. I met him with my blade and sliced across his belly, spilling his blood and failing organs onto our legs and feet. He stared at me, wide eyed and unbelieving. His breath was warm against my face and it wasn't controlled. Slow, fast, slower, then faster again. His mahogany eyes watered and he started to choke. Death rattled in his throat before he croaked and fell to the ground.

I lept over him and raced to the source of the distant noise breathing heavy and wincing as the cold air nipped my chapped lips. In a clearing I spotted Riddick and another man. Someone he knew I presumed for they knew each other by name. I hid it the shadows and listened.

"I told you I'd find you again..." Said the stranger stepping over a slashed body and walking closer to my captor.

"And what're yuh gonna do now, huh?" Riddick was standing casually, leaning on his back leg with his arms behind him, one hand gripping the wrist the of the other that held a silver dagger. "You gonna take me in now, Johns?"

"Take you in?" The man, Johns, sounded irate. "HA! I SHOULD KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!"

"Easy now," Riddick laughed. "You'll get shived again, talkin' like that..." The last few words sounded flat and threatening. Different from his usual calmness.

"Did you know its still in there, Riddick? I feel it EVERY FUCKING DAY!" Johns shouted. "CAN'T SEE STRAIGHT!" He was breathing heavy. Fuming with anger and sweating like a sack of old meat.

I heard something behind me. Or someone, rather. Few yards away. Thought they'd find my hiding there and trying not to be noticed but they stopped. Heard their name being called.

"Sid!" Johns called. "Sid get your ass over here!"

The other man changed course, heading around me and to the clearing. I made a move too, circling around to stand behind Riddick. He was twenty feet away. Then I had the thought. Its two against two. Why not make it three against one?

I strolled casually into the open space after snagging a fair sized rock, and Johns pulled his pistol on me. "And who the fuck would you be?"

"A business associate." Riddick told him.

"Oh?" Sid laughed. "That's cute... And how did you two meet?"

I think Riddick was going to say something back to him, but I didn't give him time. I beat him over the head with my rock. He growled and shot me a glare that promised death. So... I hit him again. He moved his arms to block, but that didn't do much. I'd surprised him and he was going down. Hit him four more times before he finally stayed down. Couldn't kill him though. It would take much more than that.

"Well now..." It was Johns who finally spoke. "Can't say I expected that..."

I panted and heaved as I stood over Riddick and whipped the black hair out of my face. "Well..." I told him. "Can't say I expect you to. Now... I did you a favor... now you do me one."

"And that being?"

"Help me get this fucker outta here." I coughed.

Johns laughed and strange laugh. I knew I couldn't trust him. Knew anyone mixed up with Riddick had to be bad news, but I expected Johns to be just as stupid as his man that I killed earlier. Thought I might be able to bend him. I was wrong. I looked over to him when he didn't stop laughing and realized that Sid was gone.

"Sorry Lady... But I aint sharing the loot and I aint sharing the glory..."

Something hit me in the neck. Hard. I fell to the ground and inhaled dust and dirt.

How many time am I gonna get knocked out, huh? Bullshit...


	4. Another Purge

I was encased in something. Something shaking and unstable. I was awake but my eyes were reluctant to open. Like they'd been closed for weeks. Red and blue light flashed on the other side of my lids, unrelenting in its pursuit to wake me. Something was wrong. My ears were plugged up like I was somewhere high but I could still make out the small sounds around me. Alarms screaming and wires slamming against glass. I could feel that I'd had a blindfold on, but it'd fallen around my neck. My jaw ached and when I tried to move it, I found a bit in my mouth, bolted and secured around my head tight... too tight. My eyelids parted, allowing me a glimpse of the situation.

I was in a CryoCell. One that was surrounded by a dozen others and the ship we were on, it was going down. A standard civilian cargo boat, I decided once I could see better. My cell shook again, jerking my neck hard and slamming the side of my head against something metal. I felt the sticky redness bleed from my skull as I looked straight ahead and spotted Riddick in the cell across from me. Bit and chains... blindfolded and hog tied like an animal.

_How does it feel?_

His nose was wrinkled and jaw clamped down on the metal bar in his mouth. Muscles tense and flexing.I stared at him and he nodded, seeing me through the shabby black cloth over his eyes...

_Awake..._

They say most of your brain shuts down in CryoSleep... all but the primitive side... the animal side... no wonder he's still awake... no wonder I'm still awake...

Something broke through the left wall and plowed through a CryoCell. The Captains cell. _Flat-line._ He was gone. Guts smeared all over the inside of the glass. Blood oozing from his dead open mouth and head leaning against the glass so unnaturally.

Someone else was awake. A woman. Blonde. Short hair and very thin. She fell out of her cell and slammed into the grated platform like a rag doll. She lay there gasping, clawing for oxygen. Someone else woke and fell out on top of her. A man. Tall. Muscular build. Brunette.

"Why did I fall on you?" He gasped.

"He's dead..." The woman coughed. "Captain's dead... I was looking right at him."

The man struggled to stand, as did the woman, their legs like rubber. He checked a device on his wrist, "Crono shows we have twenty-two weeks out... s-s-so gravity's not supposed to kick in for another nineteen! I mean, why did I fall at all!"

"Did you hear what I said!" She shouted. "Captain's dead!"

The man stared in disbelief for a moment and then they helped each other find the railing on the far wall and stumbled down a shaking hall of falling tubes and out of my site. The shaking became worse. The loud banging and grinding of metal was nerve wracking. The ship jumped a few times, like a cat bounding through the jungle. A bang of a crash erupted from somewhere on board.

_A purge... _I thought. Then it happened again. _Another purge... Their gonna kill us all..._

I saw Johns fall onto the grated floor. He coughed harshly and looked up at me, furious and dazed, and then he looked over to Riddick. He stood but before he could make his way to Riddick's cell, we crashed. The side of the ship ripped open wide to show the planet we'd hit. Yellow, hot and dead. Objects flew around the room and Johns grabbed a hold of a metal pipe, trying not to fly out the side of the crash. A giant metal carrying crate wriggled loose and crashed into the front of my cell, blocking everything from view.

I'm not afraid of dying... But I am afraid of not knowing when death is coming... not being able to see what was going on like that was hell and a monster of a butterfly spawned into my stomach flapping and fluttering madly and threatening to obliterate my shaken organs. I was fearful, but soon we slowed... all was calm... silent.

I knew there were survivors when I heard rustling outside. Johns cursed and it sounded like he kicked something hard and hollow.

"Fuck!" he roared and then approached my cell. After several minutes of grunting and growling, he managed to push whatever was blocking my view to the side and then he went to work prying me out. He drug me out into the shattered room and stood me up as I noticed Riddick wasn't in his cell anymore. I wanted to fight Johns, but I was much too weak. Holding my arms behind me, he cupped my mouth shut and lead me to a sufficient room for holding. He shoved me down across from a broken metal post and cuffed my hands around a pipe behind me with the shackles from his belt. "You stay put alright?" He grinned, forehead sweating and glistening in the light.

Johns left the room cautiously, looking around as he slipped around the corner. I soon heard the sound of a struggle soon after that. Grunting and the whipping of someone being struck hard with something. A loud thud followed and then I heard Johns again. "Someone's gonna get hurt one of these days... ain't gonna be me..."

Moments later he was throwing Riddick down in front of me and cuffing him to the post. Johns left and didn't bother removing Riddick's bit before he went. The man in front of me was breathing heavy. He looked up to the ceiling and then turned back to eye me through the tear in his blindfold. His head wound had been bandaged, I knew, for there was still bits of medical tape clinging to his skin but the gauze had been ripped off, exposing the old browning blood.

He groaned a sound that I understood to mean, _'I'll kill you as soon as I get outta here...'_

Fear gripped me again, and I searched around the room for a way to escape.

_Bingo..._

To my right, dangled the head of a small blow torch. I stood and situated myself so that I could kick it and get it swinging. It took me a couple tries but when I finally did it, I turned so that I could grab it with my cuffed hands. I turned it on and used it to cut through my shackles, burning my wrists and back in the process. Riddick watched me all the while and when I freed myself I bent to whisper in his ear. "Fuck you..."

His growling laugh startled me and he stood slowly. I cringed at the awful popping noises he began to make with his arm. It was then that I noticed what he had looked up at before. I knew the beam was broken, but the way it was... it was his escape. His way out.

My breath caught in my throat and I backed away. When his arms were over his head and he was beginning to pull them free, I lept from the ship and sprinted out in to the dessert.


	5. Just Throw It Back

**A/N: Thank you so much to all who have subscribed, set alerts and left me reviews for this story! I am so thankful for them! Sorry for the chapters being so short. This one should be a lot longer than the rest... I hope. Haha, so thank you to those who are enjoying it so far! I'm working on another fan fic so I may not be continuing this one, as it isn't as popular as the other. But if you'd rather me finish it send me some love! LOL..**

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The sun was excruciatingly hot. Johns had taken my cloak so I had nothing but my hands to shield my eyes from the fiery glare of day. I trudged through stinging sand and over dunes of yellow, sun-baked powder, getting farther and farther away from Riddick and the crash. I needed to get away. To find a safer place to stay so that I could devise an escape off this rock and back to my own life. I was perspiring big time. Felt the beginning of heat rash start to fester in my skin and my legs, back and neck ached.

I hopped over a small dune a half mile out and rested. I'd had my teeth clenched around the bit in my mouth the whole time. Lucky for me, it had loosened quite a bit during the crash so I was able to pull it off and right over my head. I stretched my jaw and moved it around like a tired horse after a long ride, my chapped lips splitting and bleeding. I growled at the pain as sweat from my top lips seeped into the wounds, making my lips sting even more. I looked over the top of the dune, making a habit of folding my chapped lips over my teeth, keeping them in my mouth where they would stay moist and hydrated. The crash was just a pile of black and gray out in the middle of no where. Colossal black smothering clouds billowed up out of the scared earth behind it and filled the sky with pollution and death.

I looked up and cursed the sky and all who helped bring the ship down. That's when I realized...

_Three suns... You've got to be joking..._

Not Joking. three suns for one planet. Not life on this rock. No water. No nothing. just heat, heat and more heat. A few of the survivors started to gather outside, from what I could see, and it looked like they were forming a search party. For water or food probably. I looked around at the burning nothingness that was around me.

_If they can find water and food out here, I'll eat my fucking foot..._

They were on the move. Six of them. Johns, the thin blonde from before, three children and some hoodoo holy man, looked like he was on his way to New Mecca. Comin' my way.

"Shit..." I mumbled under my breath. I was gonna have to move if I didn't want to get caught.

_But to where?_

I thought for a moment. _If they're leaving, maybe I could go back to ship for a while. Loot around and find some food and something to cover my damned eyes..._

I decided to go back. It seemed as though one of the real problems (Johns) was leaving, giving me more of a chance to take what I wanted from the crash. Of course there was the problem of Riddick, but at least I wouldn't have to worry him and Johns at the same time. I could take anyone else no problem, I was sure. I forced myself up onto my feet and started to move. I would have to take another route on the way back so I wouldn't run into the scout team they'd prepared.

_Did they even know I was gone? Had Riddick escaped? Did they know _he _was gone?_

I marched quickly and quietly around the hills of sand and made a habit or peeking around to se how close they were coming to me, all the while licking my wounded lips. My scalp itched and sweat and my moist toes rubbed each other raw in my boots. The crew was near enough to me that I could hear hushed arguments and singing.

_Singing? Really?_

I climbed a hill and stalked above them, going the opposite way. I didn't want to be that close, but it was that or tumble down a hillside of rocks. I was moving fast, trying to evade them and make it to my destination as soon as I possibly could. If I looked up and over the mound I was on, I could see them. Johns looked around cautiously so I ducked back down and hugged the dune. He had heard me.

"Quiet!" He shouted and hushed the others repeatedly.

I slipped and sent some pebbles tumbling down and onto their trail. I heard the clicking of a metal gun and someone run farther down the trail. I used that sound to cover my own noise and hurried away, hoping not to get caught. When I was in the clear, a pebble hit the side of my head. Somewhere over the mound, those damned kids were throwing stones...

I had to walk around the ship and evade the sight of a scrawny man keeping watch atop the crash once I'd made it back. Wasn't too hard though, seeing as though he was doing a shitty job of playing lookout. He sat there under his umbrella like a rich aristocrat, smoking his pipe and drinking his booze.

_God knows what I would give right now for a good drink..._

I sneaked inside and took to the shadows of the halls, walking quietly and looking around for anything that might be of use to me. I found a trashed room housing an old Egyptian sarcophagus filled with drink. Lots of it. Bottles. I snagged one, tied it to my belt with some obsolete wire I spotted on the grated floor, and pick up the another and pulled it open. I'd tipped it upside down and was chugging when I heard something in the hall behind me.

I inhaled deeply, pulling the bottle frommy lips. Child. Female. She was curious. I spoke to her but did not move. "Come out." I ordered.

To my surprise, she did. "who are you?" She asked me. Not a hint of fear in her voice. Not a stutter to be heard.

I turned and analyzed her. The first thing I noticed was that she dressed like a man. Sneakers. Khaki cargo pants and an old tattered polo shirt. The dirt-tanned golfers hat she wore backward kept her short hair out of her face and she smirked at me. Her grubby face and adventurous eyes held potential and need . She was different. Much, much different.

"A friend of Riddick." I answered her question.

She gasped. "Are you really?" Hope and wonder thick in her voice, she crept closer, clinging to the walls and shadows like me, peering at me through the fallen metal and hanging chords. "What's he like?"

"He's an asshole..." I told her.

"Good," She grinned. "He ought to be..."

She was right. If you think about it, Riddick being a nice guy just doesn't fit a man with his past. Unless he's just completely deranged. I supposed I was happy he was such a douche-bag.

"Yeah. I guess you're right." I stared at her. Into her.

"Your eyes. They're like his." she whispered appreciatively.

"No.."

She frowned.

"His are much better..." I told her. "Mine are silver... Pale and unusual... but his..." I grinned, remembering his eyes. I envied them, for they were the ultimate weapon.

They were beautiful too. So very beautiful. I remembered the moment I'd first seen him, the moment I'd first met Riddick. First time in a long, long time I'd smelled my own fear. First time in a while I'd felt challenged. And what a challenge he was. Quick and stealthy, even with his size... Boy was he a big man. Thick, strong and so broad... So... handsome...

_Wait... What was that last thought?_

"What about his eyes?" The girl snapped me out of my trance... I thanked her mentally for bringing me out of that... I didn't want to admit to myself what I was actually thinking. She tightened her hands around a thick wire and stared at me intently.

"They glow." I whispered to her. "And he can see you... always. He can see everything."

"Wow," she said, coming closer and sitting on the edge of the sarcophagus. "wish I could see 'em."

I sat next to her and took and long chug of booze, not caring that it burned my tongue and throat.

"Can I have some?" she asked, looking at me and to the bottle and back again.

"For your name." I swished the bottle in her face.

She hesitated. Thinking up something fake, I assumed. "Jack." She told me.

I raised a brow.

"Call me Jack." She insisted, obviously not knowing I knew she was female.

"Alright then, Jack. Have a drink." I handed her the clear bottle of concentrated death. If she could fly off world, survive a crash this destructive, approach me with such courage and then ask me for my drink, she could sure as hell have some.

She took it and put the neck to her lips, thinking a moment before she took a small taste. I was sure she'd never had a drink before.

"Just throw it back." I instructed. "It burns, but its a good burn. Makes your skin thick and your chest solid." I beat my chest with a fist.

She grinned and did as I told her. Knocked it back that liquor and didn't even wince. No coughing, no gagging, nothing. Just drinkin' and whipin' her chin like a real man.

"I like you kid." I patted her back good and hard. "And I don't like anybody."

"I fuckin' like you too..." She said roughly. "An I don't like nobody neither."

I laughed. "Well then, I'm flattered."

Jack smiled at me and handed me the bottle. I took another swig and she asked me, "So where were you on your way to?" She gestured around to the wreck meaning, _Where were you going before all this?_

"Prison, I believe." I told her honestly.

"Whoa, really?" She sounded excited. "Who'd you ghost?"

I chuckled. "Lotta people."

"How come I didn't see you when we first crashed?"

"I escaped as soon as Johns tied me up."

She hummed and thought for a moment. "But where's Riddick? You guys didn't escape together."

"Riddick isn't on my team, if that's what you mean. We're in this mess because of me. He'll kick my ass first time he gets a chance."

"Well," She shuffled her feet. "If you guys end up being friends, will you introduce me?"

"What's with you and him, anyhow?" I snorted.

"He's a Badass..."

"Can't argue with that..." I sighed. "I need something to cover my eyes..." I mumbled.

"I could get you something." she stated. And hopped up and sprinted out the room before I had a chance to say something back to her. When she returned, she held and black scarf and a pair of broken yellow goggles. She gave me a choice between the two, seeming reluctant to show me the goggles. She wanted them... badly.. and I knew why. I took the scarf, draped it over my head like a hood and wrapped it around my neck.

"You keep the goggles," I told her.

She smiled happily and put them on.

"Just like Riddick." I told her.

"Here." She said, tossing me a AirCell pack. "Found an extra one of these too."

I caught it and strapped it on like a back pack. I flipped the switch on the little cell on the tube and put the rubber piece in my mouth. Fresh cold air rushed into my lungs when I inhaled and me lungs started to feel a lot better.

"Thank you," I told her. "But I've got to leave now."

She frowned. "But why?"

"Because I don't wanna get caught back here and I have so other shit (Riddick) to deal with." I'd smelled him a moment ago. He was close and eavesdropping, I knew.

She sighed. "Alright... you're coming back, though, right?"

I nodded and we went our separate ways.

**A/N: So, there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I hope to be updating the next one as early as today or tomorrow :) Comment please!**


	6. It's Been Such A Long Time

I left jack in that room with a good feeling in my gut.

_If I can trust anyone on this god forsaken rock, it's that Kid..._

I rummaged around in another room filled with boxes and bags of luggage. I there must have been a woman on board who was my same size. In a crushed, hard leather suitcase, I found a pair of dingy sneakers, black cargo pants, a khaki green cropped t shirt and some underclothes. I'd pulled the old scarf from my head and was changing when I smelled him again.

"Get a good look?" I asked, turning to search for him in the dim light, wearing only the sneakers, pants and a black bra.

A deep, rumbling laugh sounded above me. My head snapped up towards the sound, only to find a pair of silver eyes staring back.

_Why didn't I smell him sooner? Why didn't I hear him sooner? Shit... this heat is really getting to me..._

"Boo..." He bellowed and then dropped from the ceiling, landing in a crouch position. He stood and straightened up to his full height and walked towards me. "And what were you two up to..." he stared into me his goggles up on his forehead.

"You were there, weren't you?" I pulled the shirt over my head and stuck my arms through,

He laughed at me. "Yeah. Who's the Kid."

"Jack." I took a few steps back and he smirked at me. "Bit of an admirer, she is. Did you know you had fan girls, Riddick?"

He ignored that last part. "She's different. I've been watching her..."

"I noticed the very same thing." I stated wearily, my lips cracking uncomfortably.

He stared at me.

"What?" I asked him.

He smirked mischievously. "Just remembering the way you tasted..."

_What? _I tried to understand what he was talking about as a small shot of fear splintered up my spine. _Oh yeah... _ I thought. _He's tasted my blood..._

He took a step towards me.

"Watch it." I warned, backing up.

He was staring at my lips, which were bleeding and stinging. He continued towards me.

"I said watch it!" I hissed in the loudest voice I could manage without worry of being heard by someone else on the boat.

He chuckled.

I stepped over the suit case behind me and backed up a few more steps. He kept coming. "Or I -"

"You'll what? Hm?"

I stared at him, thinking that maybe there was something I could do to save myself from whatever he was planning. I soon realized, however, who it was I was trying to protect myself from. Richard B. Riddick. I could beat him over the head with a rock once. Just once. He'd never give me the chance to do it again. Ever. I was completely unarmed and helpless against the man, who had seemed to have fashioned himself a shiv out of some sort of white material. Riddick with a shiv. It doesn't get worse then that, anywhere.

He laughed as he came to stand in front of me. "That's what I thought." He smiled, and I'm sure it was genuine. A real smile. Unfortunately, for me, he was smiling because of what he was planning to do.

I grunted when his big hand pushed out to throw me against the wall behind me. He moved and thrust himself against me, grasping my wrists hard and pulling them up above my head. Leaning down, he rested the side of his face on my left shoulder, his nose and lips brushed the tender skin of my neck when he spoke.

"I should kill yuh for getting me into this mess. I should just end it here." He shifted both my wrists into one meaty hand and drug his shiv, softly, down the back of my neck and back, stopping at what I assumed was the '_sweet spot_' I'd heard so much about. His movement tickled and I shivered. He liked that. He liked it a lot. "What do you think. Eh?"

"Just do it." I commanded through my teeth. "You're gonna sooner or later... Just get it over with." It was the truth.

He scoffed. "I agree. But..." He pulled the shiv away and slipped it into his back pocket before bringing his hand back up to take my other wrist. "I think I might miss yuh..." I heard the smile in his voice.

I snorted. "What? What would you miss? Taking my kills, tying me up and being the biggest pain in my ass?" I was joking around to keep my head level. In all seriousness, I was terrified just then. All too aware of his size and the fact that he could crush me at any moment. Sarcasm made me feel better.

"Yeah..." He rumbled. "And this." He inhaled my scent deeply, taking in all he could, and let it out in a loud, powerful rush of hot air. "You smell so different..." He nipped my neck and then I felt his tongue.

He licked lazily across my neck and closed his mouth around a thick vein where he began to nip and suck with the speed of a drunken man.

_What the fuck is he doing?_

I squeezed my eyes shut. There was no where for me to go. I squeaked when he moved to cover my mouth with his own. He sucked hard on my bleeding wounds and forced his tongue into my mouth. I howled fearfully into his mouth and frantically tried to push him away. He pulled his head back and laughed at me.

"W-what the fuck was that!" I was trembling. I'd had men attack me before, but to kill me. To take my life. I've lured men away with my body, but none of them ever touched me. Not ever. Riddick coming after me in such a way struck fear into me that I have never known.

"I decided I wanted another taste." He breathed huskily.

His warm breath on my neck and face tortured me. I despised what he'd just done, and yet... I think... I liked it.

_NO! _I chastised myself mentally. _How can I think that way!_

"Get off of me!" I growled and pushed against him. It was no use.

"I love it when you fight me." He grinned down at me, seductively. "Another reason I ain't killed you yet..." I flinched when he leaned to nibble my ear and he scoffed playfully. "I guess it ain't like a woman to want me, though."

"You're repulsive." I spat in agreement. A lie.

"I must be... Its been such a long time..." He started to breath heavier then and I was becoming more frightened every moment more I spent with him.

"I'm sure it has." Sometimes I hate my sarcastic mouth.

"You could help me with that..." He thrust his hips against me once, grinding the bulge in his pants against my crotch.

I was going to struggle again just then, but I couldn't for someone on the boat stirred. He pushed off of me and looked up, smelling the air. I took that opportunity to snag my AirCell pack, belt, scarf and booze from the ground and stalk towards the gash in the side of the wreck. I put my belt on as I walked, re tied the boozed to it and slipped the AirCell pack back over my shoulders.

His head snapped in my direction. "Time to move." HE started, pulling his goggles back down around his eyes and leaping passed me.

I ran out in to the dessert, wrapping the scarf around my head again. I saw which way he'd gone and turned to go the other when he called to me.

"No." He said. "No shade that way. I been there."

I hesitated.

"You wanna fry or you wanna survive?" He bellowed.

I heard loud foot falls coming from the boat and towards us. _Fuck, fuck, fuck..._ He was suggesting I go with him. Every bone in my body ached in protest to that. Every muscle twitched with disapproval, but if he was telling the truth, which he very well could be, I didn't have a choice. It was Riddick or die.

_On any other day I'd have said they were the very same thing..._

"Shit!" I hissed and moved in his direction. I caught the beginnings of a smile on his lips before he turned to lead the way.

We jogged for what felt like hours and every so often Id look back at the wreck, not believing what little distance we'd put between us and it. When he'd decided we'd come far enough from the wreck, we took a sharp right turn and rounded as if to go back to where we started.

"Where the hell are you taking us?" I barked.

"To shade."

I didn't argue with him. I didn't have the energy, and There was no way I could just stop or turn around... no way... Too tired. Alas, there was shade where he'd taken me. Giant hollow pillars that resembled termite towers provided us with a nice place to rest, away from the scorching sun.

"There's a crew member burying bodies that way." He pointed towards the ship.

"Stay low. Stay quiet."

I rolled my eyes at him, slipped down against a pillar and sat in a tall shadow, untying the bottle from my belt. I felt his eyes on my as I yanked the cork out with my teeth, spit it in my lap and took a good long chug of poison. I sighed with delight and leaned my head against a tower as my stomach warmed and tingled inside. HE cleared his throat and stared at me from where he sat against the pillar across from me.

"I hope you don't think you're getting any of this." I scoffed. "Not after the way to treated me back there..." I tossed my head towards the boat wreck.

He chuckled. "How'd I treat you, eh? Far as I know, it woulda ended pretty fuckin' great..."

I told him to shut up. Well, Actually I told him to shut his fucking hole or I'd beat him dead with a rusty crow bar, but that isn't the point. Point is, He ended up laughing at me and leaving to 'get his own drink'. I wouldn't put it passed him. I'm sure he could stroll right up the the ship, pound on the front door and ask for a bottle and no one would fuck with him. How ever he'd done it, it had worked cuz he came back an hour or so later after Id heard a small shout and a few gun shots, with 'his own drink' and sat in the spot he had before, drinking and eying me like the crazy bastard he was.

I couldn't stand not to know to I asked him how he did it.

"Didn't take much." He smiled, showing me his teeth which were, believe it or not, quite straight and very white. "The lanky Englishman left his post an' all his shit to go an' check out the ship. Jackass that was diggin' came to find 'em all talkin' with a newly discovered crash survivor." He took a swig or brandy. "Shot 'im dead thinkin' he was me..."

That explained the shots and shouting i'd heard. "Did they see you?"

"Might have. Doesn't matter though... Would you come after me if you were then in a place like this?"

I lifted my bottle to my lips. "Fuck no." I told him honestly. I took a drink and leaned my head back, closing my eyes.

He laughed a deep rumbling chuckle and stared at me until I looked at him again. "I brought you a present..." He smirked.

"Bullshit."

"Honest." He raised his hands in surrender. "Snagged it for you and no one else."

I snorted. "Is it a human head?"

"What?"

"Just imagining the sweetest thing I could picture you snagging for a woman..."

He reached into his boot and pulled from it two fat cigars and tossed me one. "That sweet enough for yuh?"

I caught it with one hand and brought it to my nose. It smelled like sin. Just the way it should smell.


	7. I Like A Little Fight Beforehand

I was smart mouthing Riddick and conveniently chewing on the cigar he'd brought for me when we heard something stir beneath us. The ground rumbled ever so slightly... so softly we almost didn't catch it.

"You felt that right?" I whispered.

"Sure fuckin' did..." He hummed. He rolled to his knees and pressed an ear too the sandy ground. Something moved again and he looked up at me slowly. "Grounds' hollow." He said to me. "Somethin' down there. Somethin' big."

A deep noise came from the sand, quiet and smooth. I pushed off the pillar I was leaned against and lay flat on my stomach, listening... feeling. I let my awareness soak into the tough hide of the planet and pushed as far and my senses could reach. "More than one." I spoke quietly. Riddick crawled to me and turned himself to lay beside me. Our heads were turned towards each other and the dusty lenses of his goggles stared at me. I closed my eyes. "There _are _big... aggressive... cold blood... Its freezing down there..."

"An' you can feel all that?" He asked seriously.

"Sort of... Its like the blurriness of our sight in the dark... yours an mine."

"You see them?"

"Feel them."

"With... your mind?"

"I have no idea... Its almost like that itch you get when there are eyes on you... You cant see the person, you don't know where they are... but you know they're there... you can just feel them." I opened my eyes to look at him.

He hummed an understanding sound. "Interesting. I'm a little jealous."

"You and I both."

"What are you jealous of?"

"You're eyes... They're better than mine..."

He smiled. "Good... So, I gotta ask... Are we the same? You hear like me... see like me and hunt in the dark like me... even your eyes are like mine..."

"I heard you got surgery to get those shiners..."

"You heard wrong... and right. Had 'em all my life. Got 'em upgraded in the slam. Didn't shine 'til they been hacked on... didn't shine much, at least..."

"Maybe we are the same..."

Just then something rumbled again, and this time it was much closer to the surface. I started to get up. Was gonna run somewhere far from the hollowness beneath us, but Riddick grabbed my arm and pulled me down.

"We grab the Kid, we get off." He said quickly.

"We what?"

"We grab the Kid. The girl. She's coming with us. Then we get off this rock."

I wasn't accustomed to joining forces with anyone, if thats even what he was suggesting, especially not with guys like him. Especially not Riddick. So, I had to clarify some things. "You're saying we all get outta here together, the three of us?" He nodded. "No tricks, no bullshit..."

"No."

"You watch my back and I'll watch yours?"

"And we both watch the Kid's." He clarified.

"And I know you aren't mind fucking me right now, how?"

"You don't. You wont. You could leave me now an' forget about it, but the point is, see, you ain't gotta better option right now. I know that, an' I could use an extra hand to shove Ol' Johns in a hole. I help you out, you help me out... You wont try to ghost me, either..."

"Oh, I wont?" I raised my brow at him. "How do you know?"

"Same way I know I can get us off world..."

"How."

"A while back in that direction," He nodded towards the way the scout team had gone. "I spotted an old settlement down in a dried valley. There's an emergency boat prepped but it looked small. Wont hold everyone."

"So now it's me, you, the kid and the pilot?"

"No. I can fly it. That's how I broke out last."

Alright. It was a rickety plan but it was better than what I'd had before. _Nothing..._ Now, I was following Riddick's lead, and the sooner we got off world and safe, the sooner I could be rid of him.

_But what about the kid? Where would _she_ go to...?_

The ground shook again and this time I could feel something moving fast... it swam through the hollow underground and sped away from us. It was then that I remembered the crew member that was digging behind us. He must have stirred what ever lay beneath us.

"Lets go!" Riddick jumped up and pulled me to my feet, running us toward the sound of horrific screaming and muffled gunshots.

"What? No!"

"We have to get caught! They have to take us back if this is all gonna work!"

"But we can just take the ship!"

"No! Been sittin' too long. We let them find it broken. We let them hope, let them repair it and _then_ it's ours!"

I got that. It was clever. But why the hell did we have to get caught? It made no sense to me. We were supposed to be escaping and here we were running toward what sounded like someone being eaten alive. I broke his hold on my arm and backed away from him.

He growled at me. "Fuck!" And kept on in his same direction. I hid behind the pillar and listened closely as a man cried out in sheer agony and was dragged down into the hiding place of whatever beast lie in wait below us.

I looked around the sand obelisk I had hidden behind and spotted a woman I took to be the one I'd stolen my clothes from. She was running towards a small tent I assumed the dead man had pitched. A tent that Riddick was crouching next to.

"Riddick!" I ran to him and tried to pull him away. He was going to be seen.

He told me to stay with him. That it was part of the plan, but I didn't understand and I needed him or else I wouldn't be getting of that rock. I hid again when I realized that the search party had come back from there journey and was heading towards us. They'd heard the shots. I heard the woman scream accusations at Riddick and then I smelled Johns somewhere near by.

I sneaked a peek at the situation just as Riddick whizzed by me, running at full speed. "Lets move!"

I followed immediately. A guy like Riddick shouldn't be running from anything. I sprinted along side him and chanced a look over my shoulder to discover that we were only being chased by a frantic crying woman.

"Why are we-"

I was going to inquire about where we were off to when the breeze carried the scent of Johns again, only this time it was much stronger. Riddick roared and dropped to the ground suddenly and I looked back to find that Johns had tripped him up. The black goggles were ripped from his head and he howled as his eyes were exposed to the blazing sun. The knowledge of the pain he felt sent me running to his aid without a second thought. My solid right hook sent Johns whirling into a sand pillar. The woman, who Johns called Shazza, ran after Riddick who was patting around for his trusty goggles. She was going to stomp and crush his hand but I rammed an elbow hard into her ribs, knocking her over and sending me tumbling on top of her.

I lept off of her and ran to Johns and Riddick who were up and brawling. Johns stumbled back into me, giving me an excellent opportunity to wrap an arm around his neck. Riddick pounded into his gut several times before Shazza headed for him with the wrench from her prospectors belt.

"No!" Johns shouted. "Not with that! I need him alive!"

She'd already hit him by the time he'd finished warning her, but she stopped and put a boot to his face instead. He was out like a light and, as soon as Johns got a good hold of the shoulder of my stolen shirt and flipped me over to smack into rock and rubble, so was I.

_I am getting so God damned tired of losing consciousness... I don't thinks I've ever been knocked out more in my entire life then as frequently as its happened since I met Riddick... Fucking Riddick... I owe you some hurt..._

I was tied up in a rundown metal room, next I knew, with my hands bound behind me around a poll and Shazza's shrill Australian voice blaring somewhere in the distance.

"Blimey! I think she broke me bloody rib, the little Bitch!" Shazza shouted.

I coughed as a new throbbing in my head replaced the old one.

"Morning, Sleepyhead." Came Riddick's husky voice. He was secured somewhere below me on what I assumed was the ground floor.

"Yeah..." It was Jack. "Mornin'" She crept to me from the shadows of a corner.

"How long I been out?" I rasped.

"'Bout twenty minutes." She informed.

I sighed. At least it hadn't been days.

"Riddick says were a team now." She was joyful.

"I didn't say Team... I said comrades... there's a difference." Riddick growled.

"Nuh-uh, like what?"

"Like it being easier to murder team-mates..." He said deeply.

"Oh..." She thought for a moment. "I like being Comrades a lot better."

I snorted and then silenced when I heard a pair of soft foot falls beneath Jack and I, coming toward Riddick.

"So where's the body?" Fry sneered and waited a while for an answer she wouldn't get form him. "Well, do you wanna tell me about the sounds...?... Look, you told Johns you two heard something..." more silence from Riddick. "That's fine..." she huffed. "You don't have to talk, _but just so you know_," She started to raise her voice. "there's a debate right now as to rather we should leave you here to die..."

Jack stalked quietly over to a mangled flight of stairs to my left and started to climb down them ever so slowly.

"You mean the Whispers?" Riddick's voice was so low... such a seemingly inaudible sound that sent lustful shivers down my spine that I did not understand. I was glad Jack wasn't there to see me do that.

I heard Fry's cautious steps near him. "What Whispers?"

"The one's tellin' me to go for the sweet spot just to the left of the spine..." Riddick answered as deep as before. "Fourth lumbar down... The Abdominal Aorta... It's a metallic taste, Human blood... Copperish... Goes well if you cut it with peppermint Schnapps... that goes away-"

"You wanna shop me with the truth now?" Fry cut him off. He had to be loving that... not.

"All you people are so scared of me..." He spoke slowly... deliberately. "Most days, I take that as a compliment... But it ain't me you gotta worry 'bout now..."

"Show me your eyes Riddick." Her voice was shaking with the festering of fear and curiosity.

"You'd have to come a lot closer for that."

Her steps were slow, fearful.

"Mmm..." Riddick moaned. "Closer..." I knew what he was planning the moment he spoke. She crept to him and he jumped at her, shaking his chains and frightening her half to death.

"Where the hell can I get eyes like that?" I heard Jacks infatuated voice.

"You gotta kill a few people." He answered her.

"'Kay I can do it."

"Then you gotta get sent to a Slam where they tell you you'll never see daylight again... You dig up a doctor, an' you pay 'im twenty Menthol Cool's to do a surgical shine job on your eyeballs..."

"So you can see who's sneakin' up on you in the dark?"

"Exactly..."

"Leave!" Fry ordered Jack. "Leave..."

"Cute kid..." Riddick said after Jack had started back up the rickety stairs. "Did I kill a few people, sure. Did I kill Zeke... no... You got the wrong killer..."

"He's_ not_ in the hole." Fry was getting very aggravated.

"Look deeper..." He told her.

"Maybe I will." She spat and stormed out.

"Jack." Riddick called after a moment of silence.

Jack, who had perked up from the frown Fry had given her at the sound of Riddick calling her name, stood and walked to the stair well.

"How'd you like to do a job for me?"

She jumped down the stairs and bounded to him. "Anything!" She chirped.

He told her to follow Fry and the rest of them, as He and I weren't going anywhere. He told her she was our eyes on the outside. Our messenger. Our informant. She left to gather Intel, leaving me alone with Riddick.

"You are some kinda monster, you know that?" I scoffed.

He laughed at me. "How'duyuh you mean?"

"Your attitude. Your reputation. Horrible... then you bring me a gift and get all soft on the Kid..."

"Stop." He said abruptly. "First off, my rep ain't horrible, It's fuckin' gruesome. Second, the kid is different. I told you so and you know it too. You'd bring her along before you'd take a regular brat with you. And third, don't get any cute ideas about me givin' you the cigar. I snagged it for you, yeah. Sure it was nice, maybe, depending what planet you come from, but in my world it means different than a sweet somethin'."

"Maybe, depending on what you consider a 'sweet somethin'." I knew what he wanted from me and there was a good seventy percent of me that wasn't gonna give it to him, no way... though I did wish that more of me agreed with that notion... I was a little embarrassed with myself for half a second.

"Lemme cut to the chase, Illana..."

"You're interested." I inserted.

He laughed. "Baby, I'm interested in anyone with a cunt who's willin' tuh get busy. I might be willin' to say I could like you a little more..."

_Well, how fucking flattering is he?_

"You could, could you?" I asked doubtfully.

"I could... And you can bet your last swig uh Gin I wont let a lady, smellin' the way you do, get away without a fight..."

Somehow, I knew he meant '_fight_' literally. "You seem like the kinda guy who'd take it, 'stead of ask." I criticized.

"You seem like that kinda Gal I'd like to take it from, 'stead of ask."

"Watch it." I growled. I didn't think I wanted to tread into waters that deep.

"Just sayin'" he chuckled. "I like a little fight beforehand... better than four-play..." He was telling the truth...

_...Wonderful..._


End file.
